Nina's current exhibition offers a concentrated view of the elements that define her practice: tactile engagement with clay, symbolic engraving, spiritual references, and a meditative approach to art. As visitors enter the gallery, they are invited not just to look, but to slow down and reflect—qualities that define both the artist's process and her intention. The following sections highlight key aspects of Khemchyan’s artistic world, as they are expressed in this new body of work.

Nina Khemchyan's creative process begins with a physical connection to clay, the material that grounds her entire practice. The artist has collaborated with the Galerie de Buci for over 35 years, and for her, touching the raw earth is not only a technical necessity but a fundamental ritual that initiates the act of making. This deep, tactile relationship with matter has remained central to her work for over three decades. Trained in both Armenia and France, Khemchyan approaches clay with a blend of discipline and intuition, allowing its texture and resistance to guide the evolution of each form. Her use of chamotte clay, with its rough texture and high firing resistance, reflects a preference for materials that retain the memory of touch. The traces of her hands, the firing cracks, and the intentional imperfections remain visible, reinforcing the idea that sculpture is not about perfection, but presence. Her process is slow and deliberate, shaped by a respect for time, material, and silence.

The sphere is t foundational structure in Khemchyan’s body of work. Whether presented as a solitary object or in constellation with others, the spherical form functions as a vessel, containing space, memory, and symbolic depth. Its closed, compact shape offers both constraint and freedom: a fixed volume that rotates and invites infinite variation. Khemchyan has used this format for decades, making it a core part of her visual identity. Within this simple geometry, she explores balance, rhythm, and the spatial relationship between interior and exterior. The smooth, tactile surfaces are occasionally interrupted by fine incisions or symbolic engravings, turning each object into a narrative fragment. The spherical form resists spectacle, but rewards close observation. It is modest, complete, and meditative, offering viewers a quiet, concentrated encounter with sculpture.

One of the most distinctive features of Nina Khemchyan’s sculptures is her use of engraved symbols and stylized figures. These motifs—closed eyes, clasped hands, simplified human forms—are carved directly into the clay surface, not added as decoration but integrated into the structure of the work. Each line is intentional, recalling both ancient scripts and religious iconography without directly quoting them. Khemchyan’s vocabulary is personal yet archetypal, rooted in universal gestures and shared emotional states. Her figures do not express dramatic emotion, but rather suggest inwardness and reflection. The repetition of certain motifs creates a visual continuity across different pieces, allowing the viewer to enter into a quiet dialogue with recurring themes. Like in Ferrara Pottery, the engraving is subtle but powerful, drawing attention to the tension between surface and depth, form and meaning.

Khemchyan’s work reflects a clear engagement with the visual traditions of Byzantine and Eastern art. Her use of gold, soft oxides, and geometric ornamentation recalls the aesthetics of sacred icons and mosaics, particularly from the Armenian and broader Mediterranean world. These references are not literal reproductions, but reactivations of a cultural memory that she carries and transforms. Rather than presenting nostalgia, Khemchyan’s visual language bridges historical motifs with contemporary sensibility. The influence of spiritual art is evident in the calm balance of her compositions and in her symbolic use of color and material. However, her aim is not to recreate the past but to open a space where tradition and modernity can coexist. Through her work, she creates a visual continuity with cultural histories while speaking directly to present-day viewers.

At the heart of Nina Khemchyan’s practice is a commitment to slowness, introspection, and stillness. Her works are not meant to overwhelm or impress with scale or complexity. Instead, they encourage a pause, a moment of quiet attention in the midst of contemporary noise. The exhibition title, Un jour au paradis, gestures toward this sensibility: not an escape into fantasy, but an experience of presence grounded in material reality. Each piece becomes a site of contemplation, where form, surface, and symbol align to invite reflection. Khemchyan offers viewers an alternative rhythm, one that privileges silence over spectacle, substance over noise. In doing so, her sculptures function not only as objects of art, but as tools for re-centering, for reconnecting with the tactile and the essential in a fast-moving world.

Un Jour au Paradis is on view at Galerie de Buci from June 5 to July 26, 2025. Visitors are invited to experience the contemplative power of Nina Khemchyan’s new works in person, in an environment that echoes the calm and grounded presence of her art. The exhibition offers not just an encounter with sculpture, but an invitation to reconnect with the material, the symbolic, and the timeless.